A minor - Research on Harmony - Variation 7

Four notes, wide span. Variation 7 reduces the A Minor étude to its structural minimum: A2, A4, A5, C6. Just four notes, Lent, four beats, arching from the near-black bass to C6 at the crest. The étude contains no E (fifth), no lower register C — only roots and the single high third at the peak.

The four notes are widely spaced: A2 in the low register, A4 and A5 as midrange steppingstones, then the leap to C6. The three A's build a warm yellow-orange foundation; C6 arrives as a single moment of red at the peak before the phrase folds back.

Highlights dominate at 59%, oriented upward despite the four-note sparseness. The étude has the quality of a gesture reduced to its essentials: one dark base, two warm midpoints, one high arrival. Lean and direct.